Letter from the Rectory
March 2007
By the time this appears we shall have received our cross of ash
and Lent will be well and truly underway. Whenever we come into
church during Lent, we can’t fail to notice the outward signs of this
special season: the colour of the altars and vestments is purple, and
flowers and other decorations have disappeared. And we notice
changes in our worship too: parts of the service such as the ‘Gloria in
excelsis’ at the Eucharist, ‘Te Deum’ at Matins and the joyful
acclamation ‘Alleluia!’ are omitted and, on the other hand, the
penitential elements of the service may be given more prominence.
The reason for these changes is not to make us feel miserable.
It’s more to do with stripping things down to the essentials so that we
can begin to see the wood instead of the trees – spiritually
speaking.
But all these outward signs of Lent in church and in worship
are of little use unless we take Lent seriously in our own lives – it
has to come alive for us. So it might help us to make more sense
of Lent if we consider, for a moment, the origins of this special
season.
During some of the early Christian centuries, most baptisms
were performed at Easter, and the candidates (mostly adult) were put
through an intense time of preparation in the weeks leading up to their
baptism and First Communion at the great Festival. Easter was
also a time when people who had committed grave sins and had been
ex-communicated (i.e. barred from receiving communion) were received
back into the full fellowship of the Church having first made a public
act of contrition. In the weeks leading up to Easter, these
penitents had to undergo ‘retraining’ in the Christian life as they
prepared to make this act of contrition and looked forward to being
able to receive Communion once again.
Eventually, someone must have had the bright idea that all
church members might benefit by sharing in such a time of preparation
in the weeks leading up to Easter, the purpose being to prepare, by
prayer and fasting, for the celebration of the death and resurrection
of the Lord – a time for renewal and growth in Christian
discipleship. And so, Lent as we know it came into being.
In the modern world, most employers send their staff on
courses to update their skills and develop their abilities from time to
time. Lent can be understood as a time for a similar retraining,
renewal and growth in our Christian discipleship with a worthy
celebration of Easter as the immediate goal for our endeavours.
This time of ‘retraining’ and penitence became particularly
associated with Our Lord’s time of fasting in the desert following His
baptism. There, the Gospels tell us, He was tempted to take
superficially easier and more attractive ways than the one He knew to
be his Father’s will for him – the way of suffering and death.
And so Lent is to be a time in the ‘desert’ with Christ, a
time for facing our own demons and coming to terms with our own need
for God’s grace as we seek to progress in our spiritual lives. We
should use this time well by doing one or more of the following:
· Fasting – perhaps eating less or giving
up a treat we normally enjoy. By doing this we show that, through
God’s grace, we can have some mastery over the demands of the flesh, a
counter to the society in which we live, which always asks that we
consume more and more.
· Prayer and worship – if possible we
give more time to prayer, bible reading, or attending an extra service
(e.g. the Wednesday Complines) or we may read a Lent book.
· Giving – we may make a special effort
to support a charity or missionary society, and maybe give more of
ourselves by finding a ways to help others.
In these or other ways, we offer our Lent to God that he may bless us
and prepare us to worthily celebrate the death and resurrection of the
Lord at Easter. At the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening at
St Tudno, there will be a chance to renew our Baptismal Vows. Why
not make a commitment to come along to do just that, and make Lent your
time of preparation?
Fr. John
Previous letters:
January 2007
February
2007